If you are looking for something genuinely intense and challenging, then Navy Seal workout program is perfect for you. This routine is not only for building muscles but also your strength, speed, agility and muscular endurance.
Find out how you can start with this routine and get real results.
Most civilians regard military personnel as above average when it comes to their physique and athleticism, and people especially have high regard for the elite Special Forces units.
Of all these Special Forces groups, however, the Navy Seals are perhaps the most legendary of them all. So it’s natural to wonder just what a Navy Seal workout is like.
How tough can it really be? And will such a workout really provide the healthy physique that just about every man would want?
While the official Navy Seal workout routine is not publicized (it’s probably classified), you can try out the introductory program that can help you prepare for such grueling training.
This isn’t about building muscles and 6-packs that make you look good at the beach. The program doesn’t care about such trivialities.
Instead, it focuses on functional benefits such as strength, endurance, and speed.
You have to be able to be fast enough to sprint towards spots quickly, be able to jump high consistently, and still be strong enough to carry your gear, weapons, and perhaps even a wounded teammate.
It’s like athletic training, except the “sport” is real-world life-or-death combat.
Benefits of The Program:
It is true that you’ll probably end up looking much more impressive after this program than if you spent the whole time lazing on your couch watching TV and munching on donuts.
However, this particular introductory Navy training focuses on more important factors that are much more relevant for real-world combat.
Here are the areas that should improve after completing the entire program:
1. Speed and Agility:
“Speed” refers to how fast you can go, while “agility” is about being able to change from one direction to another without wasted time and motion.
You’ll be trained so that you can run faster than ever, and when you change direction, you’re also able to regain that maximum velocity you’re able to reach.
By not wasting motion in these maneuvers, you can conserve your energy, so you don’t get tired too quickly.
2. Power:
Sometimes it’s also called “fast strength.” Either way, it’s about being able to efficiently and speedily produce explosive power.
Here you need to be able to drive a load while using safe biomechanics to prevent injury.
3. Strength:
You get this strength with deadlifting, squatting, and pressing.
Technically, strength is about being able to move a weight from one point to another, which is crucial when you want to get a wounded buddy undercover or when you’re trying to lug your gear all over the place.
4. Hypertrophy:
This is a somewhat confusing term as many have different ideas about what it means. In this context, though, it’s not just about becoming stronger or bigger.
More specifically, various Navy Seal exercises are used to focus on boosting muscle growth throughout your frame.
5. Muscular Endurance:
Fatigue is an enemy in the battlefield that can lead to mistakes and casualties. As such, muscular endurance becomes a crucial skill to develop.
Technically, your muscles are trained to perform a greater number of contractions before your muscles get tired.
6. Cardiovascular Endurance:
Technically, this is about your body’s efficiency in using oxygen as fuel for your muscles and the rest of your body.
Your heart, lungs and blood vessels must be able to deliver oxygen to your various tissues efficiently.
If you run out of breath quickly when you’re physically active, then you’re not doing well in this area. In your workouts, this can result in a low number of reps per set.
The end goal is to excel in all of these areas. For Navy Seals or even regular combat troops for that matter, all of these factors are crucial.
A significant weakness in even a single area here can severely limit your usefulness as a warrior in the battlefield.
A General Overview:
Basically, this program focuses on your whole body.
It’s not like a purely running program that ignores the upper body strength, or a boxing training regimen that overlooks the legs to focus on the arm speed and upper body musculature.
Aside from the various areas already listed, the program also tries to correct any problem areas you may have that may affect your battlefield performance.
You’ll have to undergo some prep work and mobility training to help ensure that you can recover nicely from your constant exertions.
Then your overhead strength will be boosted, your core stabilized, and any weak sides will be reinforced to result in a symmetrical whole body fighting machine.
This program will take 6 weeks with, and you’ll need to stay at it for at least 2 weeks before you can see any sort of improvement.
You’ll have to work out 4 days every week, and before each time you must go through a full set of dynamic warm-up exercises first.
You’re required to pay attention to maintaining proper form and technique for each exercise, so you’ll need to Google exercise here to find videos on how they’re done correctly.
You must also comply with stated rest periods and exercise schedules. If you do have trouble finishing a workout session, then you can just lower the number of reps for a bit, and then you can gradually work it up again over time.
Who is This Intro Navy Seal Workout For?
Technically, this is for anyone who wants to try, even if you’re a beginner. You can be a man or a woman.
Here are a few clues as to whether this program’s really for you:
1. Winners of bodybuilding contests aren’t quite as strong as athletes or military warriors such as Navy Seals.
2. Your overall goal is to be generally fit. After this program, you can then shift to a more specialized training you value functional improvement over just the look of your physique. The truth of the matter is that often the regimen, whether it’s for a specific sport, martial arts, or military (or law enforcement) service.
3. You can devote about an hour and a half for each session for at least 4 days a week, for an entire 6-week program.
4. You have access to or the budget for the necessary accessories and equipment, including a foam roll, dumbbells, and a barbell set.
5. You have the determination to succeed and excel, and there’s just no give in you. Remember, this is to prepare you for a real Navy Seal training workout—it isn’t for the wimps at heart.
How This Introductory Program Works:
With this program, here’s how a typical week for you will look like:
- Monday. DAY 1. You start the week focusing on Speed and Agility.
- Tuesday. DAY 2. This time it’s all about Power.
- Wednesday. DAY OFF. You need time to rest so your muscles can recuperate and recover.
- Thursday. DAY 3. Now it’s time to resume by concentrating on Strength.
- Friday. DAY 4. Finish the week off with work on Hypertrophy and Muscular Endurance.
- Saturday. DAY 5 (Optional). This is for your full body conditioning so that you can work on your cardiovascular endurance. It’s a great option if you’re really gung-ho, or if you want to lose weight as quickly as possible.
- Sunday. DAY OFF. You need this time off, as you have another full week coming.
Before starting each day’s workout, you need to massage specific areas of your body, such as your shoulders, lats, hams, quads, and hips. That’s where the foam roller comes in.
The massage will help work your muscles so that you reduce the severity of the muscle soreness afterward.
You should also perform a few basic glutes, and hip stretches so that you can work these tight muscles for the upcoming exertions.
The Dynamic Warm-up:
A dynamic warm-up involves lots of movements, and it’s quite different from your usual gradual cardiovascular warm-up.
To get you ready, you should do the following warm-up exercises in sequence:
- 20 pushups
- 20 deep bodyweight squats
- 10 on each side for lying ab windshield wipers
- 20 paces of walking lunges with long strides
- 10 inverted rows
- 10 jump squats
- 10 side lunges on each side (20 total)
Now, this is not yet the Navy Seal workout plan. That’s just the warm-up! You have to understand that this is supposedly for those with Navy Seal ambitions, or at least with Navy Seal determination.
DAY 1: Speed & Agility:
Here are the precise steps you need to take:
- Warm up with a jog for 3 minutes.
- Sprint with an all-out effort for at least 20 yards.
- Do 5 rounds of full-blast sprints, with exactly 2 minutes of rest in between rounds.
- After the 2-minute rest, do a timed shuttle run for at least 10 yards. Again, you have to go all-out.
- Do 5 rounds of this, with a rest period in between of about a minute or 2.
- After that, you’re due for a superset of the reverse grip chin-up and a flat bench barbell press. Warm up first with 12 reps.
- Then do 3 sets with 8 to 12 reps. Rest for just 1 minute after each superset.
- After that, you have the superset of the dumbbell shrug and hyperextension. Do 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, with a minute of rest after each superset.
- Next is the superset of the floor crunch and the bent-knee hanging leg raise. This time you have to do 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps. There’s no rest period between supersets!
- Round things off with a steady pace jogging for 3 to 5 miles.
DAY 2: Power
Hopefully, the first day didn’t cause you quit, as you have another day of exertions to face.
Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Warm up first with 10 reps of box jumps or jump squats. Then do 4 sets of 10 reps each. Rest for 30 seconds after each set.
- Next comes the barbell clean and press. Warm up with 2 sets of 12 to 15 reps, and then do it for real with 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps. Rest for just 1 minute between sets.
- Then you have the Plyo pushup, which involves hand-clapping. Warm up with 10 reps, and then follow that up with 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps. You can rest for 30 seconds after each set.
- Now at this point, you can do the explosive single arm flat bench press with either a kettlebell or a dumbbell. Go at it with 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps, with a 1-minute rest period in between.
- Then you need to do the 3-way plank. You have to do one side, the middle, and the other side alternating for 10 seconds each for a total of 1 to 2 minutes.
- The last step is to do 8 sprints while you rest for 1 minute in between the sprints.
The next day is a day off, which in all likelihood you’ll need.
DAY 3: Strength
It’s now Thursday, and at this point hopefully, your determination hasn’t waned.
- Start things off with either a barbell back squat or a barbell floor deadlift. Warm up first with 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, and then go at it with 4 sets of 5 reps each. In between sets, rest for just 2 minutes.
- Next, you have your choice of either the Romanian deadlift or the seated leg curl. Warm up with 12 reps, and then really work it with 4 sets of 5 reps each. Again, you have 2 minutes of rest in between sets.
- Then you have a superset with either the TRX row or the inverted row, plus the Plyo pushup. You have to do 3 supersets with 10 to 15 reps each. You can rest for one full minute in between supersets.
- Next is another superset, this time combining the incline bench dumbbell press and the wide grip pull-up.
Warm up first with 2 sets of 12 reps. Then go at it with 4 sets of 5 to 8 reps each. In between sets, rest for a full minute. - You’re not done with the supersets, as this time you have the hanging leg raise with planks.
You can do 3 supersets, with 15 to 20 reps for the hanging leg raise and 20 to 30 seconds for the planks for each superset.
Do each set one after the other without any resting period. - End the day by jogging for 3 to 5 miles at a steady pace.
DAY 4: Hypertrophy and Muscular Endurance
The end is in sight, and you have the weekend to look forward to. Meanwhile:
You begin the workout with a superset combining the standing barbell shoulder push press with the rear delt rope pull. Warm-up first with 2 sets of 12 reps each, and then go for it with 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps each. Do the sets continuously without pausing to rest in between.
- Next, you need to do the Bulgarian split squat. Do 2 warm-up sets of 12 reps each, followed by 4 real sets of 10 reps for each leg. You have 30 seconds of rest in between the sets.
- That’s followed by another superset. Choose between the TRX curl and the standing barbell, and then do the parallel bar tricep dip. Practice the moves for 12 reps, and then do 4 supersets of 10 to 15 reps each. There’s no rest.
- Now it’s time for the superset of the feet-elevated pushup with the single-leg calf raise. Do 3 sets, with 10 to 15 reps. No rest either in between sets.
- You’re not done with supersets, and this time you combine the incline 3-way sit-up with the lying leg raise. Do 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps. Again there’s no rest period—are you a Navy Seal or what?
- Finally, you can do either the farmer’s walk or the sled pull or drag. You need to do 3 lengths, with a minute of rest in between each length.
DAY 5: Cardiovascular Endurance with Full Body Conditioning
It’s a Saturday, so today’s workout is optional. Of course, if you’re a real Navy Seal or if you’re just serious about getting fit, “optional” here means you still have to do it.
Start with 3 rounds, and rest for as long as necessary in between rounds. Resting for 1 or 2 minutes is fine. As the weeks pass, you should progress so that you can do 5 rounds without ever resting between rounds.
Each round consists of the following exercises:
- 20 pushups
- 20 prisoner squats
- 10 pull-ups
- 10 stationary or walking lunges for each leg (20 total)
- 10 parallel bar dips or triceps bench dips
- Several short sprints of different lengths
- 20 ab crunches
- 3 to 5 miles of jogging at a steady pace
There you have it. With the first week at the fewest reps and lowest weights, you can do within the guidelines and then work your way up with increasing difficulty levels.
Once the 6 weeks are done, you’ll be really fit and ready for whatever training program you wish to try. Heck, you may even feel ready for a real Navy Seal workout!
Reading this piece, there is no denying that the Navy Seal workout programs are not for the faint-hearts. A workout routine that is not just focused on building muscles but also on building endurance, speed and strength, is indeed what every dedicated weightloss trainer should opt.
Do you do the same workout every week?
No, but the core of the workout is very similar.